A federal judge’s ruling striking down Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional will provide greater stability to the lives of same-sex couples and their children, but more work remains to eliminate anti-LGBT discrimination in the state.

The class action suit claims that police in a predominantly African-American school district used unconstitutional, excessive force on students, some of them already restrained, by deploying chemical spray on about 300 students over a five-year period.

A quarter century ago, 6,000 people gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to witness the dedication of the nation’s first memorial to the martyrs of the civil rights movement. Today, the Civil Rights Memorial remains a solemn tribute to sacrificed lives and a reminder that the march for racial and social justice continues.

Alabama has agreed that it will not publish a list naming immigrants allegedly “unlawfully present” in the state. The settlement agreement blocks the final provision of the state’s harsh anti-immigrant law that the SPLC challenged in court.

The SPLC is hosting or supporting events in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi this month to raise public awareness of the need to reform criminal justice policies that are harming vulnerable children.

Residents of Montgomery, Alabama, gathered last night at the SPLC’s Civil Rights Memorial in memory of Michael Brown–the black teenager killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri–and other victims of police brutality.

Date Filed

June 16, 2014

The Alabama Department of Corrections systemically put the health and lives of prisoners at risk by ignoring their medical and mental health needs and discriminating against prisoners with disabilities – violations of federal law by a prison system that has one of the highest mortality rates in the country. The SPLC and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program filed suit to end the deplorable conditions in Alabama prisons.